Tim Verwilghen, a wine merchant in Beveren (in my own home region) whom I had the pleasure to meet one night several years ago during a tasting at his premises, has never been blind to quality beer and launched his own Papitou brand in 2020, originally with a local honey beer; this original Papitou has meanwhile received the company of three new beers, an IPA, a NEIPA and this hefty stout. Curious to find out whether it actually meets today's expectations surrounding big stouts... Thick and frothy, audibly fizzing, cobweb-lacing, pale beige, uneven-bubbled and irregular, opening and eventually completely disappearing head on a very dark chocolate brown robe, as good as black indeed, but with a misty wine red glow still visible at the edges; after pouring the sediment, a greyish 'mist' of yeast forms near the bottom of the glass, looking anything but inviting. Aroma of cooked apples, toffee, sirop de Liège, black chocolate, liquorice, black or candied cherries, blackberry jam, rainwater, Kirsch, coffee liqueur perhaps but very little coffee as such, wet leather, fig compote, mulled wine, ruby port, nougat, chewing gum. Rather sweet onset, residual sugars mingling with fruity esters into impressions of blackberry coulis, cherry jam and sirop de Liège, with a dim sourish undertone; sharp carbonation with minerally effects, frankly out of place in a beer like this, but still very full, rounded, near-syrupy mouthfeel. Toffeeish malts dusted with brown sugar, thinly (Ersatz-)chocolatey underneath but primarily remaining caramelly and a bit biscuity, remaining sweet but nevertheless developing a toasty bitter edge in the end, with even a retronasal whiff of coffee, however brief and volatile. Warming, bittersweet finish (though much more sweet than bitter), maintaining its caramelly character but softly spiced by a dash of earthy hops and a thin edge of toastedness; dark fruit (and brown honey) sweetness, however, remains a dominant factor, along with subtle aspects of liquorice, ketjap manis and clove. The alcohol is well-positioned here, effectuating a warming, port-like afterglow without interfering with the flavours too much. Some mild roastiness trails behind, but never being able to overcome that dark fruit and caramel sweetness. Fruity, sweet, rather overcarbonated and a bit 'herbaceous' (liquorice), this is definitely not your typical Anglo-Saxon style imperial stout - a style once rare but now all over the place - but more a 'Belgian style imperial stout', something which deserves recognition as a substyle in its own right in my opinion (as I have argued with other contemporary strong Belgian stouts before), for being closer to your classic Belgo-Dutch quadrupel style than the pure, clean Anglo-Saxon original, in sweetness, fruitiness and pronounced carbonation. I still prefer my 'impies' clean, sleek, oily and roasty, but if you open your mind to other interpretations, this particular one does contain some surprises and will probably fall easier on the average Belgian palate than e.g. BCBS, KBS, Speedway or Surly's Darkness, to name a few, because with such classics from the other side of the pond this beer has very little to do. Instead of comparing it with such masterpieces, think Hercule from - originally - Ellezelloise, Belgium's first strong stout, and you will be fine with this one, as there are many resemblances with that iconic beer. Not such a bad effort, in all. Cheers Tim!